Freshly posted ratings show Fox News experiencing a massive exodus of prime-time viewers in the coveted 25-54-year-old demographic.
The network dominated the demographic prior to Tucker Carlson’s firing last month, but viewers in that age group are simply not showing up for his rotating replacements on “Fox News Tonight.”
Numbers from May 5th show just 90,000 viewers in the demo, behind CNN’s Anderson Cooper (99,000), and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes (145,000).
The residual effect sees Sean Hannity with 100,000 viewers in the demo and Laura Ingraham at 94,000, both of whom eclipse CNN but still lag far behind MSNBC’s program offerings.
Cable News Ratings Overload Fri May 5
Primetime Average Demo | Total Viewers
1⃣@FoxNews 94,667 | 1,379,000
2⃣@MSNBC 138,000 | 1,323,000
3⃣@CNN 76,667 | 403,000
4⃣@Newsmax 23,333 | 331,667
5⃣@NewsNation 11,667 | 85,000 pic.twitter.com/EX9R7KNM7V— RoadMN ? (@RoadMN) May 8, 2023
RELATED: Let’s Check In On Fox News Ratings After Tucker Carlson Was Fired – And Hoo Boy…
Fox News Ratings in the Post-Tucker Era
The ratings for the prime-time slot in the target advertising demographic are bad on their face, but they also represent a trend.
The Political Insider reported on the numbers coming out immediately after Tucker Carlson’s firing and noted they were on the slide. But they were still not this bad.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper came in first in that demographic with 163,000 viewers, followed by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes at 162,000 viewers, and then-host Brian Kilmeade came in at 149,000 in the category, for April 25th.
Those figures represent viewership on a Tuesday while the above numbers come from Friday, May 5th, which may explain the drop in general for each network.
On average for the 8, 9, and 10 pm slots, Fox News still leads all other networks in overall viewers.
These are REALLY weak ratings for Fox News.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/sJ5cWBvNvJ
— Misha Fitton (@MishaFitton) May 8, 2023
RELATED: Tucker Carlson Readies for War Against Fox News
Tucker Carlson Has to be Laughing
Tucker Carlson absolutely dominated the 25-54-year-old demographic when he was at Fox News, at one point garnering more Democrat viewers with that group than any other show on television – including left-wing networks.
Recent reports indicate Carlson is prepared to go to war with his former network. His departure in and of itself seems to be the first attack based on these paltry ratings. War may be unnecessary.
Fox News saw Bud Light and said we can one up you in sabotaging our business even more. https://t.co/JB7hdTxFLO
— BWinTC (@BWMinTC) May 9, 2023
A recent Variety report indicates that all is not lost for Fox News despite its plummeting ratings. While Tucker has left, advertisers that caved to left-wing pressure campaigns and were too cowardly to promote during his show have allegedly been returning.
Variety reports that 40 such advertisers have returned to the 8 pm time slot.
“Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest and most influential advertisers, has been running ads in ‘Fox News Tonight,’ the network’s new 8 p.m. program, for female-skewing products like Venus razor blades by Gillette and Secret underarm deodorant,” they write.
“Also showing up in commercial breaks: Novo Nordisk’s trendy medication Ozempic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.”
Can’t expect to have big advertisers if you are going to tell the truth or be controversial. Completely understandable. Find a different business model. https://t.co/hImWKYcx9g
— Kevin McCashion ?? (@Kevin_McCashion) May 9, 2023
With Fox’s ratings circling the drain currently, the question becomes – is there anybody in the key advertising demographic going to be there to actually see these ads?
Other online information indicates Carlson is interested in hosting an alternate GOP presidential primary debate and has been discussing the matter with GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Tucker and Trump are already trying to hatch a plan to hold an alternate candidate forum for Republicans for 2024… scoop with @isaacstanbecker and @jeremymbarr https://t.co/kicfpYvb0K
— Sarah Ellison (@sarahellison) May 4, 2023
Such a move would be a direct shot at Fox News, as Trump has indicated he might skip one of the first two debates hosted by the network and would likely draw more viewers based on his presence.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
